1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to a cigarette lighter adapted to also function as an aroma generator and more particularly to a lighter of this type provided with a replaceable heat-responsive fragrance cartridge component which gives off an aromatic vapor that is discharged into the interior of the vehicle when the lighter is activated by the user.
2. Status of Art
As used herein, the term "aroma" is not limited to pleasant or savory smells but encompasses scents that function as air fresheners, deodorants or any other odor that acts to condition, modify or otherwise change the atmosphere.
The aroma of perfumes and perfume-based products such as colognes and toilet waters was originally derived from the essential oils of plants. However, since the early 19th century, chemists have succeeded in analyzing many essential oils and in creating thousands of synthetics, some simulating natural products and others yielding altogether new scents. Perfumes today are largely blends of natural and synthetic scents and of fixatives which equalize vaporization and enhance pungency. In most liquid scents, the ingredients are combined with alcohol.
Various types of spray devices or dispensers are known for emitting aromas. Thus the patent to Dearling, U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,481, discloses a dispenser for wafting into the atmosphere an insecticide, a pleasant smelling scent or any other aroma, this being accomplished by means of a pressurized container. When the actuating button of this container is pressed, a dispersant is released onto an absorbent material, the absorbent dispersant permeating the atmosphere.
None of these prior art devices is particularly adapted for use in an automotive interior, an environment having special requirements. The atmosphere in most automobiles is somewhat unpleasant, for it is often permeated by exhaust and engine fumes, by odors emanating from the road, and in many cases by tobacco smoke. Hence, it becomes desirable to mask or supplant these odors by more agreeable scents.
While a perfume odor may be desirable in a vehicle, inasmuch as personal tastes differ and the choice of fragrance may also depend on other variables, the availability of an aroma dispenser providing a single scent falls short of what is required. Moreover, in some instances the aroma called for is not a perfume but a scent acting as a stimulant to keep the driver awake under driving conditions that may be soporific. Thus the type of pleasing scent that may be appropriate for a morning drive is usually not the same as that suitable for dusk; whereas when driving late at night, what may then be desirable is an odor which, though perhaps unpleasant, functions to stimulate and awaken rather than relax the driver.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,229 discloses an aroma-dispenser which is mountable under the dashboard of an automobile and takes the form of a replaceable cartridge receivable in a stationary holder so that the user can insert therein whichever cartridge gives off an aroma suitable for a given occasion or satisfying a personal preference. The cartridge, in this instance, includes a bottle containing a liquid scent and a hand-operated suction pump which when actuated serves to spray a liquid scent into the car interior. The Mangels U.S. Pat. No. 2,271,098 is also concerned with the disagreeable nature of tobacco smoke and other fumes permeating automobile interiors, and provides a deodorizer structure that is mountable in the vehicle.
The typical automobile is equipped with a cigarette lighter releasably held in a dashboard socket. In order for the driver or passenger in a front seat of the vehicle to light up, he must press the knob of the lighter. This action causes a spring-biased plunger having a disc-shaped heater unit at its front end to advance and to bring the heater contacts into engagement with terminals connected to the car battery, thereby energizing the heater and causing it to glow. The plunger is retained in its advanced position by a bimetallic latching element; but when the heat produced by the heater reaches a predetermined temperature level, the latching element disengages the plunger which returns to its normal position. Though the heater is then deactivated, it has a relatively high heat capacity and continues to glow so that when the user withdraws the lighter from the dashboard socket, he can then light his cigarette from the still glowing heater.
In my related applications, above-identified, there are disclosed various embodiments of an automobile cigarette lighter which, when operated by the user, generates an aromatic vapor which is exuded into the interior of the vehicle. These lighters includes a heat-responsive fragrance element which when the lighter is activated discharges an aromatic vapor. The present invention works on the same principle as the lighters disclosed in my related applications but having certain practical advantages thereover.
It is known in the patent to Masson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,551,092, to provide a cigarette lighter that includes a chamber into which one can insert a pellet of aromatic material. But since this pellet is remote from the electrical heater unit, it is not an efficient aroma generator. The present invention makes more efficient use of the heat from the heater unit of an automobile cigarette lighter.